Unable to Start Client Outside Steam

SylenThunder

SylenThunder

Community Moderator / IT Guru
Ok, first off, not trying to run without Steam. Just trying to run from a desktop shortcut for a separate client installation.

Have been doing this for years without any issues, and suddenly for the past couple of months I have been unable to. Curious if anyone else has run into this, or has any fresh ideas on working around it.

Issue is that you start the client from a shortcut pointed at 7DaysToDie_EAC.exe, and then upon attempting to connect to an EAC-enabled server you get the following console error.

0809e36313c20de0f3677b5e0c69fc3a.png


Sometimes (but not always) this is also triggering a Windows Explorer message about one of the game client DLL's being an untrusted system file.

efc2aa3283c4ef9b25a10239f242bc67.png


I feel this is probably the cause of the issue, and is happening every time, and it's just not always displaying the message. This message does not stick around in the notification tray, and I have not located any events in the Event Viewer that correspond with this.

Log file from the most recent event. https://pastebin.com/raw/zGJWAVe8

Also, not sure if it's related, but EAC stopped showing names for installed programs. I feel like I have seen this before, but cannot for the life of me find it recorded in my notes.

eaffb4491a9c641f785a3c08e60e9ac1.png


Now, for the things I have tried so far.

I attempted re-installing EAC.

I attempted re-installing the client.

I completely wiped and re-installed the client.

I have run all Windows repairs.

The client is fully excluded from AV software. Have also tried disabling, and even completely removing said software. (Including Defender)

I have re-installed Windows 10.

I have installed Windows 11.

I tried adding the separate client to Steam as a "non-Steam game", and starting it from Steam. Same issue.

And for the life of me, I have been completely unable to find a workaround. Usually it's something simple like I needed to run the client as admin. 

Even without attempting to connect to a server, I can exit out of the client and will see the Windows Untrusted System File error.

And if I start the client from the standard client install inside Steam. Zero issues. Everything is peachy.

Also note that I have not been able to test this on another PC yet. I haven't had a ton of free time, and have just been smashing my head into the wall occasionally over the past few weeks trying to come up with new ways to troubleshoot the issue. I have used three different OS installs on this PC though so....

Thoughts?

 
I saw this instantly

Plugins: Failed to load 'D:/7dtd a19 Stable/7daystodie_Data/Plugins/x86_64/easyanticheat.dll' with error 'A dynamic link library (DLL) initialization routine failed.
'.




Do you see this message when you run it through the standard client?  I don't see it when I last ran 7D2D with EAC.  If it is not properly running EAC, that might be why it is kicking you.  Maybe this dll file is corrupted?  It would be interesting to see the path for the build that runs for you compared to this path above.

Just some thoughts from a computer hack (not a hacker, just a hack 😉 )

 
I'm pretty far from a computer expert so take my info considering that. Could it be that EAC disabled desktop shortcuts in order to prevent some 'hacks' to avoid EAC detection?? That's a reach, I know, but maybe an email to EAC support could verify if that is the case. I haven't gotten into EAC too much like I did with other anticheat systems like Punkbusters when I hosted a bunch public servers for COD and Unreal Tournament but what I do know is that how and when cheat software is activated, determines how successful they are in going undetected. Just my 2 cents.

 
A few further tests:

Start a command line and change into the dir of 7d2d. Start the game

Start a command line but do not change into the dir of 7d2d. Start the game

To test star69's hypothesis start the command line and start via the link

 
SylenThunder said:
Also, not sure if it's related, but EAC stopped showing names for installed programs. I feel like I have seen this before, but cannot for the life of me find it recorded in my notes.
Click to expand...


I can't help on topic - but mine is still showing "Game 17" and you've seen it in this thread 😉:




 
Oh a whim, have you checked the EAC service to see if it's set to disable or manual? Maybe try setting it on manually. 

 
Thought i'd throw some ideas in the pot 😜 
- see if it works if you install the client on another drive, could be some funky drive error causing issues
The eac support page has some ideas, but most of it you've already tried.

The "Untrusted System FileUntrusted System File" says it a system level corruption, but you said you've reinstalled multiple times with different os's, so maybe your C:\ drive is having issues or maybe it's ram related.

My guesses, probably not useful but i tried XD

 
Kind of thinking what Naz said too, I just tried this to verify and it worked fine on my end. Maybe... try to see if windows blocked that DLL and unblock it? Missing windows updates perhaps (although if you've tried different OS's, perhaps it is drive or ram related).

 
hmm, your installation differs a litte from mine.

I don't have a subfolder 'x86_64/' - these dlls are directly under /Plugins/ in my 19.6 installation:

D:/7dtd a19 Stable/7daystodie_Data/Plugins/x86_64/easyanticheat.dll

Code: 
D:/7dtd a19 Stable/7daystodie_Data/Plugins/[COLOR=#c0392b][U]x86_64/[/U][/COLOR]XInputInterface64.dll

Why is it different for you?

 
q123 said:
hmm, your installation differs a litte from mine.

I don't have a subfolder 'x86_64/' - these dlls are directly under /Plugins/ in my 19.6 installation:

D:/7dtd a19 Stable/7daystodie_Data/Plugins/x86_64/easyanticheat.dll

Code: 
D:/7dtd a19 Stable/7daystodie_Data/Plugins/[COLOR=#c0392b][U]x86_64/[/U][/COLOR]XInputInterface64.dll

Why is it different for you?
Click to expand...


May be onto something, @SylenThunder I dropped you a message.

Welp none of those Ideas worked, I don't think.

 
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